Guardians of young drivers will soon be able to take charge over how the family car is driven. A device is being used which when fitted to a car will assist guardians in the setting of limits on top velocity and driver actions. Is this positive progress for safety on the roads?
Traffic safety groups have been putting forward ideas to improve safety for young drivers. Too many crashes involve younger drivers, half of these involve serious serious injury or death. The device is made up of a primary key which is retained by guardians and used to adjust performance of the vehicle whilst the starter key is given to the driver.
The device has many functions to used control driver actions and vehicle performance. Audible warnings are given to the driver when the car reaches certain speeds with maximum vehicle velocity capped at 80 miles per hour. As there is a speedometer in front of the driver the audible warnings aren't really necessary and could prove to be a distraction. A noise occurring every time a car reaches a certain speed whether accelerating or slowing would soon be ignored by the driver and the irritation caused by the sound could affect behaviour and actually create danger on the roads. By the time the driving test has been passed a feel for speed should have developed in the driver as well as enough decision making and planning skills to drive sensibly. There is no real logic to capping the top speed of a car at 80 miles per hour when this is a full 10 miles per hour above the legal limit. The car is capable of being driven too quickly for any given situation so there is no real safety benefit in capping vehicle performance.
Another use of the device is to limit the volume of the car radio until the seatbelt has been fastened. This could be viewed by driving instructors as a rather immature way to treat a new driver. Presumably the seatbelt would be fastened before moving off so any distraction from the radio would be of little consequence. Car radios always turn on at a certain volume to avoid shocking the driver with sudden and unexpected volume. If the radio is too loud then simply turning it down before moving off would be the solution. Fastening the seatbelt upon getting into the car should be second nature by the time a driver has become qualified so the value of this function in terms of road safety is minimal.
Other monitoring devices or black boxes as they are known are an increasingly common fixture in vehicles with the number set to rise by three quarters of a million in the next year. Insurers offer lower insurance premiums to those who voluntarily fit monitoring devices to their cars. Surely a greater emphasis on driver training and education with an emphasis on personal responsibility during driver training would yield better results than attempting to control human behaviour through technology.
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